BLUF

The trend of lying flat (basically 'dropping out' what hippies did in the sixties) started among young Chinese males who, fed up with the demanding level of competition at school, college and work, decided that their well-being demanded that they just drop out and pretty well do nothing.

Summary

This Jack Kelly article from Forbes makes the following points:

  • Some young people (the vast majority of young people are not dropping out or lying flat) who are fed up with college debt, meaningless work, and the inability to purchase homes are just giving up work.
  • Further, an Antiwork movement is active in opposing the concept of work. 
  • Some workers (mainly in low-paid jobs) feel that their employers take advantage of them.
  • Some workers in western countries have resigned from their jobs, the so-called Great Resignation.
  • Many of the jobs that people quit are in hospitality, where workers have to face constantly changing hours, rude customers, low wages and high stress.
  • According to some journalists, some young people cannot see a future for themselves and are therefore giving up—lying flat.

However, when reading this article worth considering that the whole idea of there being a great resignation might be a myth, and that most young people are not 'lying flat'. Note the following articles:

Note also the following Runway Post:

Learn more about lying flat.

References